[Blog] Don't Bury the Lede

By: Dave Goetz

Don’t bury the lede.

That is a principle that can be applied to many forms of writing.

It is especially true in hard reporting stories.

In journalism, the “lede” or “lead” is the most newsworthy part of the story.

If you’re writing a story about a man who bites a dog (and not about a dog that bites a man), the lede is:

“Today, as a dog went for a walk with its owner, a neighbor walked by and bit the dog in the ear.”

That’s your first sentence. You don’t “bury the lede” in the middle of the paragraph or even into the second paragraph.

 Hook the Reader with a "Lede" Sentence

An adjacent principle for other forms of nonfiction (and not reporting only) is to start your opening paragraph with a hook, or a lead (or lede) sentence that arrests the attention of your readers.

Why?

Because your readers are easily bored. They will bail on you at any and every moment. An effective (and crafty) writer understands that.

For example, if I’m writing about the a time when I was fly fishing in Yellowstone National Park and a wolf walked down out of the timber and lay down directly across where my fly fishing partner and I were fishing, I wouldn’t start that section with this:

“It was a perfectly sunny day with blue skies and a light breeze that cooled us as we fished into mid-day. My friend Steve was still casting into the river, while I had stopped along the trail to sit down to drink some water. As I stood back up to walk down to the river, I noticed some movement across the river. I couldn’t make out the form of the animal, since it was moving through the trees. But soon it appeared on the edge of the river and lay down. It was a black wolf, most likely part of the pack that was introduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1996.”

Yes, I could write the paragraph like that.

But the reader would have to wait until the end of the paragraph to get to the good stuff – a wolf approached us while fly fishing. That's the hook of the entire paragraph.

Here might be a better way to start the paragraph:

“I first noticed the lanky black wolf as it emerged from the timber and lay down to watch us fly fish.”

If that were the opening sentence, you’d be more likely to read on.

The point is: Spend some time on that first sentence, especially in the opening paragraph of your book chapters and the opening sections of your chapters.